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A rotulus (plural: rotuli) is a kind of roll comprised of a long and narrow strip of writing material, historically papyrus or parchment, that is wound around a wooden axil or rod and is written on its interior face or side^[1] such that it is unwound vertically so that the writing runs parallel to the rod,^[2] unlike the other kind of roll, namely the "scroll", whose writing runs perpendicular to the rod in multiple columns.

Rotuli were historically used for:

Specific legal records in Europe, from which is still derived the title of the judicial functionary denominated the "Master of the Rolls", and the Byzantine Empire;^[3]
Liturgical manuscripts, e. g. those used for chanting the Exultet; and
Especially mortuary rolls, i. e., documents memorializing the names of all the deceased members of a monastery or other institution, which were banded together and circulated so that they could mutually pray for the repose of each other's decedents.^[3]

References

^ Grout, James. "Scroll and Codex". Encyclopaedia Romana.
^ "What's On?: From Roll to Codex". Bodleian Libraries. University of Oxford.
^ ^a ^b Daly, Lloyd W. (1973). "Rotuli: Liturgy Rolls and Formal Documents". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. 14 (3). Duke University.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Rotuli". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
- Léopold Victor Delisle, Rouleaux des morts du IX au XV siecle (Paris, 1866);
- ____, in Bibl. de l'ecole des Chartes, series II, vol. III; Sur l'usage de prier pour les morts;
- Thurston, A Mediaeval Mortuary-card in The Month (London, Dec., 1896);
- Nichols in Mem. Archaeolog. Institute (Norwich, 1847);
- Molinier, Obituaires français au moyen-âge (Paris, 1886);
- Ebner, Gebetsverbruderungen (Freiburg, 1891);
- Wattenbach, Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (3rd ed., Leipzig), 150-74.

[1] Grout, James. "Scroll and Codex". Encyclopaedia Romana.

[2] "What's On?: From Roll to Codex". Bodleian Libraries. University of Oxford.

[daly-3] Daly, Lloyd W. (1973). "Rotuli: Liturgy Rolls and Formal Documents". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. 14 (3). Duke University.

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[2]

[3]

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 {{double image|right|Giovane con rotolo.JPG|150|MANNapoli 120620 a Fresco young man with rolls from Pompeii Italy.jpg|150|[[Roman portraiture]] [[fresco]]s from [[Pompeii]], 1st century AD, depicting two different men wearing [[laurel wreath]]s, one holding the ''rotulus'', the other a ''[[History of scrolls|volumen]]''}}
 [[File:Busto maschile.JPG|thumb|[[Roman portraiture]] fresco of a young man with a [[papyrus]] [[scroll]], from [[Herculaneum]], 1st century AD]]
-A '''rotulus''' is a type of roll, in which a long narrow strip of writing material (perhaps [[parchment]]), written on one side, is wound about its wooden staff.<ref>{{cite web |first=James |last=Grout |url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/scroll/scrollcodex.html |title=Scroll and Codex |website=Encyclopaedia Romana}}</ref> The document is unwound vertically, so that writing parallel to the staff could be read.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/online/crossing-borders/codex |title=What's On?: From Roll to Codex |website=Bodleian Libraries |publisher=University of Oxford}}</ref> This is opposed to the other type of roll, the [[scroll]], which bears multiple columns of text, with the lines of writing perpendicular to the staff. If made of papyrus, the writing is parallel to the strips of papyrus on the recto.
+A '''''rotulus''''' (plural: ''rotuli'') is a kind of roll comprised of a long and narrow strip of writing material, historically [[papyrus]] or [[parchment]], that is wound around a wooden axil or rod and is written on its interior face or side<ref>{{cite web |first=James |last=Grout |url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/scroll/scrollcodex.html |title=Scroll and Codex |website=Encyclopaedia Romana}}</ref> such that it is unwound vertically so that the writing runs parallel to the rod,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/online/crossing-borders/codex |title=What's On?: From Roll to Codex |website=Bodleian Libraries |publisher=University of Oxford}}</ref> unlike the other kind of roll, namely the "[[scroll]]", whose writing runs perpendicular to the rod in multiple columns.
-Rotuli persisted for:
+''Rotuli'' were historically used for:
-* Certain legal records in Europe (from which is still derived the title of the judicial functionary known as the "[[Master of the Rolls]]"), also in the Byzantine Empire.<ref name="daly">{{cite journal|last1=Daly|first1=Lloyd W.|title=Rotuli: Liturgy Rolls and Formal Documents|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|date=1973|volume=14|issue=3|publisher=Duke University|url=http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/9191/4607}}</ref>
+*Specific legal records in [[Europe]], from which is still derived the title of the judicial functionary denominated the "[[Master of the Rolls]]", and the [[Byzantine Empire]];<ref name="daly">{{cite journal|last1=Daly|first1=Lloyd W.|title=Rotuli: Liturgy Rolls and Formal Documents|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|date=1973|volume=14|issue=3|publisher=Duke University|url=http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/9191/4607}}</ref>
-* Liturgical manuscripts, such as those used for the chanting of the ''[[Exultet]];
+*Liturgical manuscripts, e. g. those used for [[chant|chanting]] the ''[[Exultet]]''; and
-* And particularly for [[mortuary roll]]s, the documents employed in sending round the names of the deceased belonging to monasteries and other associations which were banded together to pray mutually for each other's dead.<ref name="daly"/>
+*Especially [[mortuary roll|mortuary rolls]], i. e., documents memorializing the names of all the deceased members of a [[monastery]] or other institution, which were banded together and circulated so that they could mutually pray for the repose of each other's decedents.<ref name="daly"/>
 ==References==